Blind Loyalty
by Kanan
Summary: Jubei is blind, Kazuki drinks, and they live in the WRONG neiborhood. Will they be okay? Jubei may be blind, but can he still protect Kazuki? Rated for language and someone dying. Hope y'all like it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Get Backers; though, I am a huge fan!

Blind Loyalty

(Flashback)

"This is the end, Kazuki."

Jubei Kakei clutched the electromagnetic controller tightly, and shut his eyes. The black needles moved a bit, and with lightning speed, they flew, deeply piercing the man in the back. He fell to the holographic ground and Kazuki ran to him.

"Jubei! Jubei? Why?"

"I-I can't believe I made such a mistake… I betrayed the one I was meant to protect… but it will be better this way… For you, and.. Maku… bex…"

"Jubei, no!"

(later)

"Doctor, how is he?"

"I'm sorry… he is blind… maybe forever."

(end flashback)

"Kazu-chan…? Kazu?"

Ginji shook Kazuki's shoulder lightly, and the brunette started to wake. He lifted his head off of the café' counter and rubbed at his sleep-deprived eyes. Ginji and the usual crew stared at him, silently- Ginji looked sad and worried.

"What time is it? How long have I been asleep?"

"Kind of late… Listen Kazu, you need to get more sleep when you are at home, I think."

But Kazuki shook his head.

"Until Jubei regains his sight, I have to keep an eye on him. I thought asking him to move into my apartment with me would be good for him, but his nightmares keep us both up at night…"

"Speaking of Jubei, shouldn't you be getting back to him, now?"

Natsumi asked. Kazuki looked outside and gasped.

"Oh-no! It's already dark out? I need to go!"

Kazuki stood up tiredly and chugged the rest of the drink he had in front of him- some form of alcohol. He grabbed his grocery bag he had entered with and proceeded towards the door. He almost fell backward as he felt dizzy, but Ban caught him.

"Dinking and restlessness is not a good mix, my friend."

"I didn't drink that much."

Kazuki lied.

"Even so, you shouldn't be walking at this hour of night. Let me give you a ride. It's dark, cold, you're tipsy, and you obviously didn't bring a coat."

"I appreciate the offer, Ban, but I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I need to walk this off. I'll be okay. Good night, everyone."

And Kazuki walked out of the Café', alone. The dimly lit streets were, thankfully, mostly vacated at that time, but there were still some suspicious-looking people around—one of which followed him a ways and then disappeared. In his tipsy state, he would not be able to fight and defend himself at his best, so he shot a cold glare at anyone whose eyes followed him- half reinforced by the buzz from the alcohol he had been drinking. A half-drunk thread master… Yeah, I'm scared!

He finally into calmer streets and could relax, some. He closed his eyes as he walked slowly down the sidewalk. The cool night was draining away some of the alcohol in his system, it seemed, which made his vision less fuzzy. Soon enough, he found himself in front of his apartment. He walked up the first few steps and was about to press the call button to alert his protector of his presence, but paused. What if Jubei was asleep? Kazuki didn't want to wake him, if that was the case, especially since Jubei needed sleep as badly as himself. But, Jubei had asked him to always check in before entering, for security purposes. Not his, of course, for Kazuki, as he had said. So, he pressed the button.

"J-Jubei? It's Kazuki. I'm coming up now."

There was no reply, but the call box from their apartment clicked off and the door buzzed, unlocking it. He quietly made his way up the two flights of stair, as the elevators stopped working at that late hour. He had to lean slightly on the railing, since he was tired and didn't feel as good as he should be. He finally reached his apartment door and went in.

It was chilly in the rather large apartment, and Kazuki shivered. He closed the door and hooked the chain lock on before going to the kitchen and setting the grocery bag down on the table. Kazuki looked around. Jubei was nowhere in sight.

"Jubei? Where are you? I'm home."

"Welcome home, Kazuki-san."

There was an echo. Kazuki walked towards the bathroom, sliding his hand on the wooden railing that was installed into the walls. He had to put the rails there so Jubei could find his way around without hurting himself. As Kazuki approached the bathroom, he saw Jubei's shadow moving about, but also, it seemed that Jubei was shuffling through… what sounded like the medicine cabinet. He opened the door and Jubei looked in his direction. Jubei didn't have to see Kazuki's face to know he looked worried for Jubei in his current position. He knew because Kazuki gasped at him.

"Jubei, what happened to you!"

Kazuki took hold of Jubei's left hand, which was bleeding a little from a cut. Kazuki pulled the wounded appendage under cold water from the sink and dressed the cut. Jubei sat on the side of the bathtub as Kazuki put the cabinet back into order and then led Jubei out. They went to the kitchen, where Kazuki went over to the counter and Jubei sat at the table.

"What were you trying to do?"

"Cut and apple. You know I don't like it with the skin, so I thought I would-"

"Jbei, if you were so hungry, you should have paged me! I always have my pager on me!"

Kazuki cleaned off the bloody knife and put it in the sink. He took out another knife and cut an apple with no skin, and set it in front of Jubei. Then, he returned to the counter and boiled some water to make stew. Jubei had his head down.

"I could have done it, myself."

"Jubei, lets not go over this again… until your sight comes back, please allow me to help you out."

"I was starting to worry; wherever you had gone, you were out for a very long time."

"I just went to the Honky-Tonk for a while…"

Jubei raised an eyebrow and sniffed the air.

"Have you been drinking again? I can smell the liquor all the way over here."

"Yeah… I had just… a little."

"Is that took so long?"

"No, I … sort of… fell asleep."

"I should have known…"

Jubei stood up.

"Kazuki, I want you to stop this. Don't worry about dinner tonight. You need to sleep."

"I'm fine."

"Kazuki-san."

"Jubei, I said I was okay. What else do you want from me?"

"I swore I would protect you, no matter what. Don't you remember?"

"That has nothing to do with-"

"I have to protect you, even from yourself. You wont last long if you keep carrying on like this. Do you understand?"

"…I do. Look, go and relax while I make dinner. After that, I promise I'll rest."

"…"

Kazuki smiled. He did look tired, but his smiled didn't really convince Jubei to back down.

"I am in no need of protection right now. Not in my own home… please go and rest; please, Jubei?"

This time, he did as told. He felt his way out of the kitchen and into the living room where he found the couch and plopped down onto it. He slouched, so that his head could not be seen over the back of it- a rather comfortable position, really. Staying silent, he ran his hand over his face, stopping at the where his eyes were. How could he protect Kazuki if he could not see? Better yet, how could he protect him when he refused Jubei to help him? It's not just that, either. Kazuki had been drinking a lot, lately. Kazuki wasn't normally a hard drinker, he thought; in fact, the younger man didn't used to like to drink at all, last he knew.

Soft music began to fill the room. Kazuki had turned the CD player on again. He often did so when he was busy in the kitchen. Jubei went back to his thoughts and was quiet for a very long time. In the kitchen, Kazuki took out some wine that Jubei had bought a while ago and poured himself a glass.

'And he's far too reckless', Jubei thought to himself. Man, how long had he been thinking? He was tired, but he decided to stay awake. He could still hear the music and boiling stew in the kitchen. However, now, a new sound hit his sensitive eardrums. Their door made an awful creaking noise whenever it was opened, and so Jubei knew what it was he heard. It was the front door. Was it Kazuki?

The chain rattled. No, it couldn't have been Kazuki. He always remembered to unlock the chain when he went out- he would also tell Jubei if he was going out at all, so, who is… Jubei perked up his ears to hear better.

"Kazuki-san?"

Kazuki didn't respond, Jubei jumped at he heard, next, at hearing a cracking sound. The chain! Someone had cut the chain lock! The door opened again, but their floor did not creek. Who is it? Where is the intruder? Better yet, where was his keep? Jubei wanted to stand up, to call Jubei to him so he could protect him, but what would be a mistake, to reveal his position without knowledge of who was in the house. Instead, he remained still and silent and listened. He wondered why his keep had not noticed the noise… What if he was asleep? Or, perhaps, he had gotten into the wine, again. Kazuki was surely dead to the world when he drank.

Jubei tried not to flinch as he heard the loud kitchen timer go off. He heard Kazuki rise from his seat and move to the kitchen and turn off the stove. He heard Kazuki's footsteps walking over the tile floor, and then another pair. Oh-no! The intruder s right behind him! Jubei closed his eyes tighter than before and slowly moved away from the couch.

Kazuki finally heard footsteps behind him.

"Oh, there you are, Jubei. Dinner is ready no-"

the thread master received a hard blow to the back of the head by the end of a gun and he fell to the floor. The intruder, a thief, looked him over, searching for any and all valuable on his person. He spotted the shiny bell spools that Kazuki kept on his hair ties and reached for them, but his hand snapped back as he saw Kazuki's hand twitch. The intruder stood back up and took a step back as his victim tried to get back up. When Kazuki was up, unstably, the intruder his him again, then kicked him. Kazuki fell into a chair, breaking it. Kazuki didn't move after that. Afraid that his victim would try to get away again, the intruder pointed his gun at him.

"Hey."

The lights suddenly went out after the voice spoke. It was pitch black. He tried to move around but when he bumped into the table, he pointed his gun, ready to shoot. That's when, out of nowhere, a shiny silver spike shot out of the darkness and pierced the hand holding the gun, making it drop to the floor. The intruder, scared and bleeding, inched back towards the entrance to the living room.

"You picked the wrong place to try to rob, punk."

"W-who the hell are you!"

"I will give you only one chance to cut your losses and run, and that's it. If you don't leave, I will kill you."

"S-screw you! Come out and fight me like a man, you pansy!"

The intruder backed into the entrance of the living room, where Jubei was silently waiting. When the intruder stopped, Jubei bolted out and hit the intruder in the face with his elbow. When the man stopped stumbling about, he checked his bloody nose. Jubei was right behind him. In one swift motion, Jubei wrapped his left arm around the intruder's neck, putting him in a head lock. The intruder tried to pull free, but was not strong enough.

"Game over. I gave you a chance to live, but you blew it. My friend over there may be merciful, but I am most certainly NOT."

With his right had, Jubei pulled out three of his silver needles and stabbed them into the intruder's side. His resistance faltered and Jubei used the opportunity to finish it. Just a small pull and twist, and….

Crack!

The intruder fell, dead, to the floor with a broken neck, and Jubei put his weapons away. He heard Kazuki moan a bit. He slowly walked around and turned the lights back on. From the wall, he looked around for Kazuki, seemingly forgetting he could not see him, anyway. His voice was softer and more sad when calling for his fallen friend.

"Kazuki-san? Kazuki, are you all right?"

"Mm…"

"Kazuki-san?"

"J-Jubei? I'm okay…"

Kazuki lifted himself from his face-down position on the floor and sat up against the base of the kitchen sink. He was holding the back of his head, and he stared at the dead man in the middle of his kitchen. He then looked up and saw Jubei, looking around for him.

"Jubei…did you?"

"Kazuki, I can't see… where are you?"

"I'm, um… directly to your left- on the floor."

Jubei walked away from the wall and knelt in front of Kazuki on the floor.

"Are you hurt?"

"Did you kill him, Jubei? Even though you are…"

"I had no choice. Are you injured?"

"just a few bruises… and my head hurts a little."

Carefully, Jubei reached his hand out and felt the bump forming on the back of his keep's head. Without warning, Jubei scooped Kazuki into his arms and lifted him up. He made his way to Kazuki's room. Said keep was squirming around.

"J-Jubei! This isn't necessary! Put me down!"

"you could have a concussion. Walking about would only worsen it."

"But what will do do-"

"I may be blind now, Kazuki-san, but I am still your protector, and doctor. I am asking that you allow me to treat you… please…?"

Finally, Kazuki relaxed and agreed.

"Okay… but, what are we going to do with the dead man in my kitchen? We can't just get rid of him."

"Why not?"

"JUBEI!"

"Okay, okay… I'll call someone. What do you expect from me?"

Jubei smiled.

"I am, after all, only your bodyguard…"


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2:

It was much later at night and all had been taken care of. Policemen had come by and Jubei had explained the situation, and the police took the thief's body away. Now, the blind needle master was lying above the covers on the left side of Kazuki's bed. The tired thread master next to him was covered up to his neck, curled onto his side and silent. Jubei looked over at his keep, and envisioned what he might look like right then. A smile came to his lips when he saw the image in his mind. He slowly reached out his hand and felt Kazuki's hair. It was so soft and smooth. He felt Kazuki move around a little and pulled his hand back.

"Are you asleep yet, Jubei?"

"No. You should be asleep, also. Don't worry about me."

"Oh come on, don't say that… I want to take care of you, Jubei."

"Even so, you should be resting, due to your injuries."

At that, Kazuki paused a moment and then turned onto his other side, now facing Jubei and looked at him.

"That reminds me. Tell me how you did it."

"It's hardly a skill to kill a stupid man, Kazuki."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, how did you find him to kill him?"

"I… I felt, just for a moment, that when I could not hear his movements that I… could see him there."

"…?"

"He was not good looking at all…"

Jubei's attempt to make a joke ended up making Kazuki smile but still, several tears started to fall down his cheeks. Jubei heard his sobs and turned towards him. Jubei cupped Kazuki's face in his hands and wiped away falling tears.

"Kazuki-san? What is it? Are you in pain?"

He could feel as Kazuki shook his face gently, but not going out of Jubei's hands.

"I'm… just so happy for you, Jubei. Your eyes… I'm certain that they are getting better!"

"Kazuki-san… yes."

Jubei smiled at him and released his keep's face, then moved him down back under the covers.

"Sleep now. We can talk about this tomorrow."

"Okay. Say Jubei, would you like to go somewhere with me tomorrow? It's a very special healing hot spring."

"…Okay."

Kazuki smiled as he closed his eyes. Then, surprising to Jubei, Kazuki's hand found his and held it.

"So you know I'm always here for you, Jubei."

Jubei squeezed his Kazuki's hand, back.

"So you know I wont ever leave you again,"

_owari_


End file.
